Not another PC Build!

• 

  issh on 02/09/2013 - 16:23

  Here you go

  http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/rmp_sg_whirlpoolpcs_gaming_conf…

  Edit: Just realised that you wanted water-cooling

  ---

  To compare cost of prices(exl Shipping Cost)
  http://www.staticice.com.au/

• 

  _Bruce_ on 02/09/2013 - 16:44

  +1

  Do you want advice on a cost effective build or want to build something that you think is cool/shiny? Because if it is the former you can start by forgotting liquid cooling.

  Not saying there is anything wrong with the latter, but it is very hard to go past and i5, 8G Ram, 7870, any SSD, any motherboard.

  Also if you are using digital out sound card makes no difference at all.

  Will your system really be much better than this?
  http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/115142

  If you really want to spend huge cash, spend it on the screen, where you will see the difference.

• 

  Riczter on 02/09/2013 - 17:51

  +1

  Yeah Bruce is right. A lot has changed in 7 years of computing. You could spend 2-3k on a crazy spec computer but it probably wont be much better than the current PC deal that bruce linked.

  If you want a bit of shiny/cool factor get a nice bitfenix case or something with a clear window and chuck in an LED or something or a liquid CPU cooler if you want not that you'll need it, then the specs you want are:
  i5-4xxx CPU
  8GB RAM
  128-256GB SSD
  2-4TB HDD
  A decent mobo (i'm not an expert here but use whirlpool)
  and a $2-300 graphics card
  with a decent brand name PSU.

  You dont need to spend over 1500 to build a serious gaming machine.
  But aesthetics are important to some people so get whatever case makes you happy :)

  • 

    scrimshaw on 02/09/2013 - 21:15

    +1

    You could spend 2-3k on a crazy spec computer but it probably wont be much better than the current PC deal that bruce linked.

    Some things i was considering:
    Either 4 or 6 core CPU

    In other words, it's basically diminishing returns. I.e. spending truckloads of money on a computer won't neccessarily equate to a proportional increase in performance — rather, you're putting money on components that are unnessarily high end or not good value. Every 3-4 years, new CPU's comes out, new standards come out, and your kickass rig suddenly becomes incompatible with the stuff on the market. So don't blow the budget on a Core i7 or $300 dollar motherboard.

    There's a reason you won't find a Core i7 listed in the WP Gaming build wiki page.. The discussion has been done to death — i7 is not better for gaming. i5 is sufficient.

    You can however, blow all your cash on dual/triple displays, surround sound, cool cases, and gaming peripherals, if you want, since those kinds of things don't become obsolete all of a sudden like computer parts generally do.

• 

  p1 ama on 02/09/2013 - 21:46

  Either 4 or 6 core CPU
  - There's no benefit for going 6 cores unless you're going to be doing a heap of rendering.
  - Recommendation - i7 4770K

  8GB 1600MHz ram
  - Any 8GB RAM kit will do, just go for whatever is affordable and cheap.

  SSD (good read and write speeds) aswell as HDD
  - Samsung 840 EVO 250GB should be pretty good.
  - 3 x 3TB Seagate Barracudas in RAID 5.

  2GB graphics (3GB overkill?)
  - Memory amount doesn't matter - GPU does
  - With your budget, I would go with a GTX 770

  Which PSU?
  - 650W should be enough

  which motherboard?
  - Any Z87 Motherboard should be good.

  a liquid CPU cooler
  - Noctua NH-D14, unless you're wanting to go for a custom water cooling loop (I have a custom loop, it's cool, but it's high maintenance and expensive).

  which Case?
  - Whatever appeals to your eye.

  Good Sound card
  - Not necessary these days really.

  ---

  Anyway, this is my build, I aimed for around $2000 so you have heaps of cash to splurge on what you like as well as peripherals.

  CPU - Intel Core i7 4770K - $389
  MOBO - Gigabyte Z87-D3HP - $160
  RAM - 8G Kit 1600 Patriot-S - $76
  SSD - Samsung 840 EVO 250GB - $203
  HDD - 3 x 3TB Seagate - $414
  GPU - Gigabyte GTX770 - $478
  CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-D14 - $84
  Case - Corsair Obsidian 650D - $209
  PSU - Corsair TX650 - $119

  Total - $2132

  ---

  Get a good quality monitor, a mechanical keyboard and a good mouse and you'll be set with a $2400 PC that will be a ripper.

  • 

    issh on 03/09/2013 - 00:31

    ~$250 for the peripherals?

    Probably $300-$700 for Monitor
    $100-$180 for Mech Keyboard
    $50-$150 for Mouse

• 

  Brouw3r on 03/09/2013 - 11:21

  I'm assuming you're planning on overclocking if you require liquid cooling? If you're not, I don't think liquid cooling OR a "K" prefix (unlocked) CPU are required. You also need to take overclocking into account as some MOBO's will not let you overclock.

  WRT peripherals, I recently got a razer blackwidow pro and highly recommend it. And logitech G500 mouse.

  I do agree with not going overkill and investing addition money on good peripherals.

• 

  ThadtheChad on 05/09/2013 - 13:08

  Depending on what the primary function of the system is, you'd spend the most on the components that would have the most noticeable improvements.

  E.g:

  Gaming @1080p: Mid to high end GPU (i5 would suffice with a budget mobo)

  Gaming HD+ res (e.g 2560x1440 or higher): Flagship/high end GPU (i5 CPU + OC type motherboards)

  Workstation (A/V work, virtualisation, number crunching etc): CPU (i7; prefer OC with high end mobo). Depending on type of workload, it may be beneficial to have a high end workstation card with significant GPGPU capabilities (like a Titan).

  Gaming+Workstation: High end/flagship GPU + i7 (OC motherboards recommended as you'd want to push the clocks to increase performance); typically these systems, while expensive, take the longest to be rendered obsolete.

  • 

    _Bruce_ on 05/09/2013 - 19:02

    Even for workstations the benefits of i7 over i5 are often marginal at best.

• 

  umartsydney on 05/09/2013 - 17:01

  Umart Online

  CPU - Intel Core i7 4770K - $393
  MOBO - Gigabyte Z87-D3HP - $155
  RAM - Corsair 16G (2*8GB) Kit 1600 $156
  SSD - Samsung 256GB SSD 840BW Pro $256
  HDD - Seagate 3TB 7200 RPM $138
  GPU - eVGA GTX770 4G Superclocked w/ ACX Cooler $589
  CPU Cooler - Corsair H80i - $128
  Case - Fractal Design Define R4 $149
  PSU - Corsair TXM 650 Modular $136
  ODD - LG BH16NS40(OEM) Blu-Ray WRITER $89

  $2189 including installation and cable management.

  What do you guys think?

  • 

    _Bruce_ on 05/09/2013 - 19:01

    If you have to spend that kind of money this is reasonable, but the i7, K series CPU, Z87 motherboard, 16G Ram and cooler are all toys rather than of much use.

    Depends on the OP's expectations.

• 

  mrhorseham on 05/09/2013 - 17:12

  Thanks for everyones input! @omgwtfbbq it would probably come into the Gaming+Workstation category as that is what i plan to use it for. I already have 3 good monitors (updated them recently) so it's mainly just the computer components that i put off updating for longer. I'll check out all those parts that you've all recommended

  • 

    ThadtheChad on 05/09/2013 - 19:25

    In that case the following should be core to your system:

    1. i7 4770k
    2. an OC board (you will be OC-ing the 4770k to 4.5Ghz or more). I tend to gravitate to Asus ROG boards for hardcore OC.
    3. Corsair H100/H110/Noctua D14 (or any other high performance cooling solution)
    4. SSD + HDD
    5. The most powerful GPU your money can buy.

    All the best mate. Sometimes being "cheap" isn't really the most satisfying(i.e. what a lot of people <incorrectly> perceive as the OzB spirit). Get a beast of a rig that gives you the best possible performance today (don't stress too much about what will happen a few years down the line).

    • 

      _Bruce_ on 05/09/2013 - 21:37

      As mentioned both i7 and overclocking are really only useful in certain circumstances, and paying more for overclocking gear is mostly throwing money away (but fine for a hobby).

      'The most powerful GPU your money can buy' is also a fairly silly statement. For half the price of a Titan you can get something almost as good, then get another card 12 months from now that is much better, spending no more before you even sell the old card.

      • 

        ThadtheChad on 05/09/2013 - 22:36

        Both i7 and overclocking the i7 are useful in ALL circumstances where you need a fair bit of CPU grunt. Especially when you have the use cases mentioned in my prior post where processing power has significant impact. Moreover HT is a mature technology and could be quite beneficial on a lot of processing workloads.

        This is very subjective and a lot of people may not agree with this:
        In my mind, not OC-ing a powerful unlocked CPU is a waste as you'll settling for less performance. OC-ing to reasonable limits on most contemporary CPUs does not compromise the stability while giving a significant performance boost for all computational tasks. An OC board is beneficial because:
        * top shelf components that increase the longevity of the rig under prolonged high stress workloads.
        * better stability due to non-ref VRMs and other critical power circuitry (when operating components outside their "standard" envelope)
        * a robust feature set that you may find useful
        * BIOS features that allow extra options for tweaking and OC-ing that are conventionally absent from non-enthusiast boards.

        'The most powerful GPU your money can buy' is also a fairly silly statement. For half the price of a Titan you can get something almost as good, then get another card 12 months from now that is much better, spending no more before you even sell the old card.

        For half the price of the Titan you could get a great gaming card (~780) which is absolutely shithouse when it comes to compute. Again we're talking about workstations where CUDA would be very important. That said, if CUDA is not important, then a 780 would be the way to go. Getting a <780 now and then getting another card (at the same price point; say 880) 12 months down the line is silly. :)

        Let me elaborate:
        If you have a 680, would you upgrade to a 780? The performance difference does not warrant the minuscule upgrade and the price for a 780 is the same as the price point of the 680. So you end up spending $700-$800 again within the year for negligible performance increase.

        So my argument still stands. I'll rephrase the sentence:
        Get the most powerful CPU that makes sense depending on your usage.
        Eg. Titan if you use GPGPU extensively; GTX780 if you don't.

      • 

        p1 ama on 06/09/2013 - 18:12

        +1

        I completely agree with you here. Overclocking does give performance benefits. For example with my i5 3570K, I've overclocked it to 4.90GHz and its stock speed is 3.40GHz, that's quite a sizable 1.5GHz increase, around a 40% boost in the clock speed meaning that most of the tasks I do are faster.

        E.g. Rendering video, I've rendered the same video under stock speeds and again under overclocked speeds and I noticed a 25%-ish reduction in time. That might not sound like much, but when I'm rendering complex After Effects sequences which take around 2 hours or so, 25% faster is quite good. All I had to spend was a Noctua NH-D14 cooler for the CPU.

        In terms of the i7 and the benefits it can provide, under normal usage scenarios, yes, I do agree that it provides no tangible benefits over an i5, but with heavily threaded computes, it does add quite a lot of benefit. Pretty much anything with intense mathematical computation will favour the i7 quite heavily.

        Re. Bruce's statement about graphics cards, it comes down to what is needed, but it is the law of diminishing returns again. E.g. A Titan is good, a 780 is also good, what about two 770s in SLI, that would cost less than a Titan and perform better, but even then, surely a 770 is more than anyone could ever require. But the 760 is so much cheaper…etc. Using that argument of picking performance/dollar, budget products will always win. However, it's about what you need and what you can afford. So it does make sense to recommend the best graphics card OP can afford. If I was shopping for a computer, I would do that too, get the best computer I can under my budget.